. 11 days away, the president comes off the trail and huddles with his advisors as mitt romney spends his day in iowa. and hurricane sandy, how it might affect the campaign trail. our live coverage starts now. thanks for joining us for this news edge special: you decide

20126789 we'll start with hurricane sandy already changing the campaign trail. romney canceled his appearance for virginia -- in virginia beach. d.c.'s mayor and governors of maryland and virginia declared a state of emergency. they also warned it could impact early voting. we'll get to the storm. sue palka has the latest on what you need to know this hour. >> i was just thinking how many flights will be disrupted especially in the monday, tuesday, wednesday time frame. ground and air travel will be very tough. here's the very latest. it's all about hurricane sandy n. is the track. it's a minimal hurricane right now but really that's not as important as the fact that this thing is going to be making a hard left turn sometime monday night into tuesday. as it approaches the coast, it probably is still a category 1 hurricane after going through a weakening process briefly on sunday.

then we believe its wind field will expand dramatically as it transitions into an extra tropical system and lingers across pennsylvania, even into wednesday and possibly into the thursday time frame. so we're talking about many days of high winds for many states and also a lot of heavy rain. just to give you an idea of the wind field with this, we talked about virginia, a very important state for our candidates here, look at how the gail force winds will be going across the state. that's certainly going to be getting them very, very strong winds and most of it, especially along the coastal areas but that wind field will cause disruptions. gieghts to cause power -- it's going to cause power outages. we need to be prepared for that to last a number of days. we're projecting in the d.c. area alone about 4 to 6 inches of rain. parts of virginia could be seeing 6 to 8 inks of rain. -- inches of rain. that's through tuesday but most of that begins sunday night. we'll have more for you a little later. >> hurricane sandy already having an affect on the

presidential race. there's news from both campaigns it could have that effect. we'll take a look at the comings and goings of both tickets. >> reporter: a short time ago as you said at the top, the romney campaign announced it's canceling a major rally planned in virginia beach on monday due to the upcoming hurricane sandy. we were recently in touch with the obama campaign. they told us they are still monitoring the developments in those storm tracks sue just told us. they're going to be making a decision about this planned rally. as president obama continues to monitor this along with fema officials. today on the trail, it was business as usual in the next to last weekend before the election got under way. we begin in iowa this friday. mitt romney attending a rally at a construction business in ames, iowa. he's continuing to make a strong push in iowa, a state democrats carried just four years ago. >> four years ago candidate

obama spoke to the scale of the times. today he shrinks from it trying instead to distract our attention from the biggest issues to the smallest, from characters on "sesame street" and silly word games to personal attacks he knows are false. >> reporter: the president staying in washington today visiting the democratic national committee offices on capitol hill later criticizing mitt romney's response to the benghazi attacks during a radio interview. >> if you aspire to be commander in chief, you don't have a political press conference that tries to take advantage of that opportunity that is to reckless that even members of your own party criticize you for it. >> reporter: we head to oshkosh, wisconsin. vice. joe biden reaching out to female supporters during a rally at the university of wisconsin. >> they made it very clear, very clear from the outset, they do not think a woman has a right to control her own body. that's a public policy issue as

far as they're concerned. no, no. as the president says, i don't need your boos but i do need your votes. >> reporter: finally in charlottesville, virginia last night, republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan arguing the president has done little to cut the debt. >> and this debt burden, we're told about a tax increase of about $4,000 for a middle- income family. that is why virginia is going to help us fire barack obama and hire mitt romney. >> reporter: 11 days left but tonight the election isn't the only storm brewing. today on the trail october 26, 2012. we have our political analyst mark. a lot of times they say they don't want to talk politics when a hurricane of this intensity is out there and could affect literally hundreds of thousands of lives. we are going to talk politics. you have the next to last weekend before the election.

the entire east coast looking at this thing. who does this harm the most as far as having the east coast's attention taken away like this? >> early voting, democrats believe is their strong suit. they've said that they -- it comes out that iowa and ohio actually voted for john mccain on election day, but they won it four years ago because of early voting. so anything that conflicts with early voting, anything that makes early voting more difficult hurts democrats. >> mark, there's a new poll out tonight from abc news and "the washington post." we want to take a look at that now. abc news and "the washington post" today coming out, finding 49% for mitt romney, 48% for president obama, 3% if you can believe anybody is still unside at this point, -- undecided at this point, 3% undecided. we talked about how the national polls can be misleading but at a gut level what does it tell that you it's this close this close to the

election? >> obviously it reflects the sentiments of the electorate. but i think we should warn people that, you know, 270 is the magic number. that's the electoral college vote. that elects a president. that's what they're concentrating these 50 states and the district of columbia elections. but the popular vote in some way is affected by mitt romney getting enormous numbers south. so in terms of the popular vote, the composition of the southern vote, what that delivers to the aggregate total i think in some way secures the -- skewers the numbers a bit. >> presidents are often judged on how they handle crisis. with this hurricane out there right now, this test is out there for both candidates. you could make the argument despite his political problems, george w. bush was never gauged the same way again after hurricane katrina. what does president obama heading into this weekend, is he looking to demonstrate to

the country in any way and how does mitt romney at this point discuss this without getting embroiled in another one of these comments that he's had problems with in the past? >> mitt romney can't make any misstatements that make him look unpresidential. people are trying to perceive mitt romney as a future president. if he says something or does something or makes a flippant remark, then it hurts his overall image. in terms of the president, he's got to act like what a president z. maybe he needs a little dose or a big dose of bill clinton, of empathy, of concern, of being there, of showing that he's in command and in charge. >> political analyst mark plott. the campaign hasn't taken a back seat but like co-pilot. a comment on national tv that's causing controversy. and we're continuing to track

sandy. we'll have another live update within this special broadcast. you're watching the news edge you decide 2012. we'll be right back. anncr: seven-hundred-thousand jobs.

that's what the planan george allen supports... would cost our economy. newspapers called it "economically destructive." like allen's votes to give tax breaks to companies... that ship jobs overseas, his economic plan would... help big corporations, devastating the middle class. allen even voted against tax breaks for small businesses. virginia can't afford to go back to george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee... is responsible for the content of this advertising.

we had a good group of people. good group of employees out there. this was a booming place. and mitt romney and bain capital turned it in to a junk yard. i was suddenly, 60 years old. i had no health care. mainly i was thinking about my family. how am i going to take care of my family. he promised us the same things he's promising the united states. and he'll give you the same thing he gave us. nothing. anncr: priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. tonight another top republican in damage control mode after controversial comments. former white house chief of staff and new hampshire governor john seen senunu

suggesting -- [ inaudible ] >> the governor was speaking from the romney headquarters and was asked about colin powell's endorsement of the president which was announced yesterday. powell who is a republican said he favored the president's foreign policies, a major factor in his decision. the governor said in his role as a campaign surrogate that in his opinion, the factor was not foreign policy but race. >> frankly, when take you a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he has a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> governor sununu was loudly criticized today for those comments. owe imam ma campaign surrogate

democratic new jersey mayor cory brooker has run into his own controversies for criticizing the obama's attack on bain capital. they said the comments were both dumb and unfortunate. gaffes from the candidate that's legislation season could prove costly to the g.o.p. the reporter for the hill newspaper joins us now to live the potential problems ahead. cameron, thank you for joining us. todd akin's rape comment initially caused a firestorm but he's still hanging in there. is there a sense that will be the case with this latest comment from richard mourdock? >> my sense is the comment from mourdock is not as damaging as the comment from todd akin. akin has a long shot at this point. he has very little money. the national party has abandoned him. he will probably lose the race. the richard mourdock comment isn't as bad. it wasn't the pseudo science, the legitimate rape discussion. he was basically saying why he

opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest. he unfortunately put the words rape and god in the same sentence, not helpful for any politician at any point really. it's starting to trickle down a little bit. he and his opponent put out polls today to show he was still tied with joe donnelly. donnelly's polls show he was up seven. it's a big jump, about a five- point jump from the last democratic positively the state. really it isn't just this comment. he's made earlier comments talking about how he wants to inflict his opinion on other people. he was saying how he doesn't really think that partisanship is a good thing. he was saying that democrats really should just come to the republican side rather ually wo middle. so the reason this is a race in the first place and it's a pretty republican leaning state is because he's made some of these gafers earlier. the two -- gafers earlier -- gaffes earlier. the two if they lose will be a problem for the party.

they're attacking romney for this because romney just cut a commercial for him about a day before he made these controversial remarks so they're nailing romney for not backing away from them. romney put out a statement saying look, i don't agree with what he said. i don't agree with his position but i'm still backing him in this race. democrats nationally are hitting him for that and he's avoided reporters' questions. he's just been ignoring them at all the events and refusing to talk about it at all. it's problem for romney a little bit but they're hoping it blows over. there's a good chance something will happen this weekend that will get them talking about something else. they want to focus about the economy and every time they spend time or not talking about this hurts them. the democrats have a new ad saying even mitt romney disagrees with him on this statement. it's interesting to see how the democratic senatorial campaign are creating -- treating this differently in indiana and outside of it. >> the complaint goes the gaffes will cost republicans control of the senate. did they ever have a shot of

gaining control of the senate? >> earlier in the year everybody was expecting republicans to take control. democrats were having to argue why they even had a shot at winning control. there's about three times as many competitive democratic seats up as republican seats. they had some early retirements that looked problematic for them in north dakota and nebraska. nebraska is going to go to the g.o.p. it looks like but the g.o.p. had a retirement in maine. democrats will probably be able to pick that seat up with the independent governor there. all of these other states, states that the republicans said they never would have any problems in arizona and indiana in north dakota where democrats have a really good candidate there, they're running very, very strong campaigns, the democrats are. it looks like -- i don't know if they're going to win those races but they're making them close. in some of the other races like massachusetts that looks close, looks like republican scott brown will go down there. all of a sudden rather than looking like republican sure thing, it's looking like democrats probably have the edge about keeping control of the senate. >> cameron joseph, reporter for

the hill newspaper. thanks for coming in and talking about this tonight. >> thanks for having me. there's many different scenarios possibly on how the white house could play out. but first as we go to break, the first lady stopped by the i amie kimmel show to -- by the jimmy kimmel show to remind him to vote. the skit is going viral today. >> up and adam. go, go, go. up, up, up. go vote. you can do it. >> okay. >> i'm going. >> out the door. i need some carrots. anncr: seven-hundred-thousand jobs.

that's what the plan george allen supports... would cost our economy. newspapers called it "economically destructive." like allen's votes to give tax breaks to companies... that ship jobs overseas, his economic plan would... help big corporations, devastating the middle class. allen even voted against tax breaks for small businesses. virginia can't afford to go back to george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee... is responsible for the content of this advertising. a west virginia casino launching the biggest ad barrage ever. don't be misled. the washington post says question seven is just... common sense. it'll create 4,000 permanent jobs. and stop maryland from losing millions to other states... every year. that's why business, labor, and teachers all support... question seven. and so does the washington post. vote for question seven. it's just common sense.

there are a lot of different scenarios, a lot of different paths to the presidential election, scenarios that could prove victorious for either candidate. let's bring in political analyst mark and cameron joseph to discuss how this race could play out. mark, i'll start with you. are you getting a sense and you have a much more historical mind than i do that another bush vs. gore 2000 could be shaping up here? >> you sure have the possibility. you remember in 2000 al gore won the popular vote by 500,000 votes. many say a disputed election but he lost the electoral college vote which is required to be president. and if you talk to people like locals like donna brazil said if only al gore had listened to us and gone to new hampshire, that's just four electoral

votes, we wouldn't even have needed florida. so things can turn on that. also there's the possible nightmare scenario for maybe the country, brian, of neither candidate getting 270, getting 269. it goes into the house where each state caucuses and then casts one vote. there are 33 republican delegations. so the election would go to romney. but in the senate picks the vice president. what do you think of this? president romney and vice president bidening. wasn't supposed to work like that. so there's an unbelievable amount of mathematical different arrangements, but do look at ohio, florida and virginia. those are the three big ones. >> cameron, as we look at ohio, florida and virginia, are we overlooking a couple of states like perhaps colorado? >> i think colorado is also key. basically romney needs to run the table in colorado, virginia and ohio to feel good on

election night. there's still a chance he can pull it off with two of the states. but he really needs to do very well in all three of them. right now in ohio, obama still has a little bit of a lead in the polls, not a very comfortable one but a solid one that he's been pretty consistent. both virginia and colorado have been tied the whole time. i don't think people are talking enough about colorado. obama could still flip in ohio, not win that state. if he wins the other states like nevada, wisconsin that it looks like he will probably be able to pull off at this point, if he wins colorado or virginia, he's still going to be president. >> as we drill down in some of the local elections, if you have voters in these states strictly voting the ticket, republican or all democrat, who does that help? >> a straight ticket, i don't think people vote straight tickets but i do say in virginia, i think this is a valid statement. let me get it right. there are no -- not one, if you

talk to brian moran. mitt romney voting, there are no -- i've already done it. obama, george allen voters. there are no such thing. about there are m.i.t. romney -- mitt romney-tim kaine voters. virginia is so key. >> cameron and mark, thank you both. we'll be back with another update on hurricane sandy after this. anncr: it's said that character is what we do...

when we think no one is looking. mitt romney: believe that they are victims. anncr: mitt romney thought no one was looking when... he attacked forty-seven percent of americans. his companies shipped jobs overseas. his plan cuts millionaires' taxes, but raises yours. he'll voucherize medicare... and make catastrophic cuts to education. so remember what romney said... and what his plan would do. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

athat's what the plan georgeand allen supports... would cost our economy. newspapers called it "economically destructive." like allen's votes to give tax breaks to companies... that ship jobs overseas, his economic plan would... help big corporations, devastating the middle class. allen even voted against tax breaks for small businesses. virginia can't afford to go back to george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee... is responsible for the content of this advertising.

let's go straight to sue palka for an update on hurricane sandy. 420 miles south, southeast of charleston. we want to show you satellite pictures so you can get an ideas. the problem with sandy is it's moving slowly. we want to go to max 3, guys. we're working on some graphics coming up for later. you can see that thing swirling. it's a fairly raggedy looking hurricane but the big concern is this will likely kind of transform itself into a very, very strong nor'easter in the monday-tuesday time frame as it gets closer to making a landfall. what i'm showing you here are the individual models. we call them the spaghetti tracks because it does look like a dish of pasta. notice how tightly clustered they are in the next 24 to 36 hours. as we go out in time, they start to spread out a little bit and this is why from the delmarva all the way up to new england everybody is watching this thing because that's the huge cone that the national hurricane center is referring to as we go farther out in time, not sure where the

landfall will be. you can also see it does quite a bit of looping around in pennsylvania. so what this is implying that a lot of areas are going to have to watch it and regardless of whether we're closer to the center or farther away, it will impact us. it's a question of how much rain and wind. but there will be wind and rain and it's going to abmajor disruption for -- to be a major disruption for the east coast. here are the headlines. for tomorrow a couple of showers around, a little bit breezy but a real good day to get done what you need to get double. clean your storm -- done. clean your storm drains. gas up the car. get the leaves out of the grain. get a little cash on hand and stock up for what may in fact have the potential to be a multiple day power outage. you've got saturday to do that. we start going downhill on sunday but it's really sunday night where we see conditions deteriorating. for us locally worse effects will be monday night into tuesday afternoon and maybe longer. locally we expect gusts of 40 to 60 and stronger at the coast. that's enough to do damage. we're talking about 24 to 36 if

not 48 hours worth of this. rain totals of at least 4 to 8 inches. it will be heavier at the coast. going to be a very big deal. again hurricane sandy, that is the latest track. we'll have another update for you, brian, on our news at 10:00 and 11:00. back to you. >> thank you, sue. thanks for joining us for this news edge special you decide 2012. the news is always on myfoxdc.com. keep it right here. tmz on tv is coming up next. no baseball game tonight. we're back tonight at 10:00, the news edge at 11:00. have a fantastic night. hope to see you here later. anncr: seven-hundred-thousand jobs.

that's what the plan george allen supports... would cost our economy. newspapers called it "economically destructive." like allen's votes to give tax breaks to companies... that ship jobs overseas, his economic plan would... help big corporations, devastating the middle class. allen even voted against tax breaks for small businesses. virginia can't afford to go back to george allen. the democratic senatorial campaign committee... is responsible for the content of this advertising.